Negotiations
by scriptdragonslayer
Summary: Sequel to First Contact. Elliot and Susan share a couple more moments, and then work some things out. Things change... but not everything needs to. Mild suggestive content. Dedicated to ZeeMcZed for getting my creative spark going again.


It was the kiss that set Susan thinking. The Hammer Queen would never have allowed anything like that to happen, accidental or not. And yet, it had happened. In the back of her mind, Susan had known that the Hammer Queen was no more, but now it was driven home. She didn't know what to do, so she decided to let things keep happening as they had.

* * *

The kiss set Elliot's emotions awhirl. The feelings he had denied and then pent up were finally out for good, but even the hottest and most introspective of showers didn't shed any light on what he should do about it. He considered trying to say something to Susan, but eventually realized that he was too afraid of the unknown to test their boundaries like that, and he decided to just let things happen.

* * *

The first thing Tedd noticed was The Ruffle. He had invited most of his friends over to watch a Harry Potter marathon on TV in his basement, but only Justin, Susan, and Elliot came over, the rest begging out with various excuses. During a commercial break, Susan volunteered to make some extra popcorn, and Elliot leaned his head back and asked for chopsticks. Just as Tedd looked over in confusion, he saw Susan reach over the back of the couch and ruffle Elliot's hair. All three of them froze, but only Tedd saw the glances Elliot kept sending over to Susan with something like hope in his eyes.

* * *

That night, Elliot's dream was more vivid than he could ever remember any dream being. In full HD, he sat on The Couch, watching as Susan _swayed_ closer and closer to him in an enticingly tight Troi costume. When she leaned over him, breathing became a lot harder. He watched her eyes, first meeting his, and then ever so slowly tracing downwards. They stopped well before his toes. Susan bent down farther. As she did, Elliot tore his eyes away to focus on her shoulder, only to realize that her shirt had slipped down, revealing creamy skin and the beginnings of a collarbone that led down. He gulped.

"Ah-" His throat closed as blue eyes flicked upward to meet his. He swallowed, and tried again. "Uh, this seems- um- this is kinda moving a little fast? I mean, uh, I've had dreams like this before, and ones with you in them-"

An eyebrow quirked upward.

Elliot gulped again. "-but this seems like aluciddreamohcrapi'msorry." His right hand automatically went to the back of his head and began flusteredly rubbing.

Susan smirked and stood up, sitting on the other end of the couch. By the time she had finished settling, she was wearing the blue shirt and black short shorts she had worn during their first movie marathon together. "If that's too fast for you, then let's slow down and talk."

"Okay, I guess. I mean, this is only a dream. You're just a figment of my imagination or my subconscious or something. Talking things through can't hurt." Elliot forced a grin.

Susan's eyebrow quirked upward again. "Clearly you haven't been to counseling. But," she shifted to face him more, "your intent is solid. Let's do it. You first."

"Za?" Elliot froze. "Oh. Right, I should have expected that since I suggested that." He took a deep breath. "So. Uh. Where do I start?"

"The beginning is traditional."

Elliot glared at her for a moment. "Thank you. I needed to be sassed in my own dream. Anyway, the beginning? The beginning was probably the shower. Showers are great for thinking. In this shower, I realized that I kinda-sorta had a crush on you. Well, not you-you, you're just some dream construct. Susan. I had a crush on Susan. Well, _have_ a crush on Susan."

Susan unconsciously brushed her hair back over her shoulder. "Tch. _I'm_ Susan, and _you_ are the dream-construct."

"No, I'm not." Elliot sat forward.

The eyebrow jumped for the third time. "This is my dream. This is the first time this scenario has gone this way, but this is my dream."

"No, this is my dream. Granted, it's a weird dream, but it's still a lucid dream. See, I'll turn you into Tedd." Elliot concentrated briefly, and the previously blank space surrounding them became a perfect copy of Tedd's basement, as even the couch changed.

Susan blinked. "See, you didn't do anything to me. You're the dream construct, watch." She closed her eyes for a moment, and the scene shifted again, this time to a cave with a pedestal in the middle. When she opened her eyes, she flinched. "You are not Jerry."

Sitting awkwardly on the ground since the couch had vanished, Elliot looked up at her. "No, I am not." He blinked. "And this _can't_ be possible!"

"Well, it obviously is. The question now is how."

At the same time, both sighed and said, "Magic."

Elliot turned slightly red and asked, "Well, what do we do next?"

"You have a crush on me?" Susan asked pointedly.

He spluttered for a moment and turned beet red, but managed to retain his composure enough to retort, "And you've seduced me in your dreams before?"

There was a moment of silence that stretched on and on as Susan's ears tried their best to match Elliot's face.

Elliot got up and willed the couch to appear again before stiffly sitting down on it.

The scene blurred and went back to Tedd's basement as Susan sat down on the other end of the couch, just as stiffly.

"So."

"So?"

"So."

Two pairs of eyes met, and the tension in the air was suddenly broken by a fit of nervous laughter.

Chest heaving as she fought to regain her breath, Susan looked at Elliot. "I have sexy dreams about you."

Winded, Elliot grinned back. "And I have a crush on you. Seems that we're even. Although, I have had sexy dreams about you too."

"And I kinda-sorta have a crush on you too, so we're definitely even."

"And we kissed."

"And we kissed. Yes. That was hard to forget."

"Tell me about it! I haven't been able to stop thinking about it since it happened! But I wasn't sure how to bring it up!"

Susan grinned at that for a second before her face smoothed out and she chose her next words carefully. "So, what does this change?"

Brown eyes regarded her seriously. "Almost nothing. We're still friends. Just ones with lower barriers than most, I guess?" He sat up a little straighter. "I'd like to hug you, Is that okay?"

"Yes. Yes, it is."

* * *

Susan woke wonderfully slowly, easing up toward wakefulness as if she were surfacing out of a pool of molasses. Before she opened her eyes, she stretched, and something clunked off of the blanket onto her bedroom floor. Opening her eyes, the first thing she saw was Little Nase giving her a knowing look and flying down to fetch the object, which turned out to be her phone.

"What's this for?" Susan asked, even though she knew she wasn't going to get an answer. It had just become habit for her to talk to the fairy as if it could respond. "Do you want me to talk to someone?" And just as the thought about talking, the entirety of her dream rushed back to her. "That was a really weird dream."

Nase scooted the phone closer to Susan, and gave her a meaningful look.

"What? You want me to see if it wasn't just a dream?" She flopped back onto her pillows. "It's too weird to be anything else."

Unbidden, a quote came to her. _Truth is often stranger than fiction._ At the same time, Nase dropped the phone onto Susan's chest and stood on it, crossing her arms.

"You're being bossy today." Susan lay back for another moment, and then grabbed her phone. _I've got nothing to lose. If it was just a dream, it was a nice one._

Susan, 9:06 AM – You didn't turn me into Tedd.

She got up and started going about her morning routine. When she finished, she noticed that she had a new message.

Elliot, 9:07 AM – We're friends with lower barriers than most.

Susan, 9:21 AM – So we really did share that dream. I'm still wondering how.

Elliot, 9:21 AM – I'm just chalking it up to Moperville being Moperville. And magic, of course.

Elliot, 9:22 AM – See you at Tedd's New Year's party?

Susan, 9:24 AM – I'll be there. You'd better help save me from the cat.

As Susan tucked her phone into her pants pocket, Nase was flying circles around her, with a smile threatening to split her cheeks.

* * *

As the energetic party whirled around Tedd's basement, there seemed to be a small aura of calm surrounding two friends in one corner. Elliot and Susan were standing in companionable silence, and enjoying being with their closest friends.

Ellen jumped up on a table. "It's almost midnight! Everybody find your person and get ready to kiss them when the ball drops! Woo!"

"We've all got our people. Speak for yourself!" Justin called out as he pulled Luke closer to him and grinned.

"Everybody shh!" Grace literally bounced with excitement as she pointed to the TV. "The countdown's about to start!"

"Ten!"

There was a hurried to set down drinks _en masse_.

"Nine!"

"Eight!"

"Seven!"

"Six!"

"Five!"

Almost everyone in the basement jockeyed to align with someone else.

"Four!"

"Three!"

Susan and Elliot locked eyes for a moment.

"Two!"

"One!"

There are moments when the situation is so rushed that on doesn't remember much about it except for very odd thoughts. Ellen and Justin would later remember a very similar thought, and a very out-of-place one.

Elliot and Susan were the perfect height to give each other hugs.


End file.
